The darkness within

In 1621, three British playwrights—Thomas Dekker, John Ford, and William Rowley—collaborated on a piece called The Witch of Edmonton, basing the story on an execution in the town of Edmonton. The Witch of Edmonton turned out to be anything but topical theatre—400 years later, it remains classic literature, dealing with themes of injustice, isolation and evil. Now, DalTheatre is presenting The Witch of Edmonton as its season opener and Halloween show.

“It’s an amazing play,” says Roberta Barker, the Dalhousie/Kings professor who proposed, and is directing, the show. “It’s a very profound play.”

Prof. Barker briefly sketches out the plot: lonely spinster Elizabeth Sawyer, believed by the townsfolk of Edmonton in England to be a witch, finally becomes one when the devil approaches her in the form of a dog named Tom saying—as Professor Barker puts it, “Hi, I’m the devil, and you need to sell your soul to me.”

If you go... WHAT: The Witch of Edmonton WHEN: Wednesday, Oct. 15 to Saturday, Oct. 18, 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 18, 2 p.m. WHERE: David MacK Murray Theatre, lower level, Dalhousie Arts Centre HOW MUCH: Tickets are $12 or $6 for students and seniors. Call 494-3820.

It’s a play without a hero, but Elizabeth Sawyer, the titular “Witch of Edmonton,” isn’t necessarily the villain. “How do we cause evil to take root in our lives?” says Prof. Barker. “We do it by behaving inhumanly to other people ... it’s Edmonton itself, it’s the way the community works, that has caused this.”

This isn’t Dr. Barker’s first play at Dalhousie. She directed Troilus and Cressida in 2003 for DalTheatre, then returned with Fuente Ovejuna in 2005. “I’m interested in plays about communities,” Professor Barker says. That’s why The Witch of Edmonton is such a good fit. “It’s a play where the town is the antihero… This is a play I’ve always really liked. The more I work on it, the more profound it seems to me. (It’s about) where evil comes from – can we escape the cycle of blaming other people?”

The Witch of Edmonton has aged well; the characters are accessible and human, the language rural and comparatively simple. “(The characters) are the opposites of kings and princes; they’re peasants. They’re leading extremely everyday lives.” Still, it’s a challenge to actors to successfully inhabit roles created centuries ago. One female lead even has to play a male dog.

“It’s very dense, it’s very complicated… it’s a huge challenge to actors,” Prof. Barker admits. “There’s a lot of things in (the text) that are very foreign to us… (but) there’s a point at which all acting challenges the actor to get inside someone who’s different from them. There’s no way you can directly say, ‘Oh, yeah. I was a dog yesterday.’ But, somehow, you have to find something within yourself.”

The devil you know

Prof. Barker likes to take a hands-off approach to direction, at least initially, allowing her student actors to discover the characters for themselves. When students figure out the emotions of the piece, the play begins to make sense. “They’re a very brave, and energetic, and willing group,” Dr. Barker says. (Rehearsing for 28 hours a week can’t hurt, either.)

The Witch of Edmonton is part of DalTheatre’s year-long set: "The Devil You Know," four plays about evil, wickedness, and the darkness within. 

“An old adage tells us that ‘the devil you know is better than the devil you don’t,’” explains the season program. “But is the unfamiliar really more threatening than the evil we encounter every day? This season, real life meets mythology as the artists of DalTheatre explore the darkness that lurks within the coziest of communities – and discover the unexpected blessings of change.”

The other plays making up the sinister suite are Trelawney of the ‘Wells’, a Victorian class-clash drama by Arthur Wing Pinero, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, an eerie parable by Berthold Brecht, and contemporary play The Laramie Project, about the real-life murder of gay student Matthew Shepard in the sleepy town of Laramie.

Pondering evil

Theatre students themselves petitioned for the addition of The Laramie Project to the season’s playlist. “They’re not all plays about the devil in a literal sense,” Dr. Barker explains. “They’re all plays that are about what communities think of as evil… and they’re all plays that kind of question that.”

The Witch of Edmonton and The Laramie Project share many themes, despite their differences. “They’re both plays which kind of depict communities that think of themselves as nice, fine, decent, upstanding communities, in which this horrific thing has happened, and the community has to come to terms with it.”

Roberta Barker pauses and thinks. “Maybe the devil you know is worse than the devil you don’t,” she says carefully. “You have to realize the darkness that lies within… what’s familiar to you.”